Digital-era rights

Composer Mayuresh Pai, singers Usha Mangeshkar, Lata Mangeshkar and Hariharan, and actor Rekha (centre) during the launch of a music album in Mumbai in April 2011.-SANTOSH HIRLEKAR/PTI Composer Mayuresh Pai, singers Usha Mangeshkar, Lata Mangeshkar and Hariharan, and actor Rekha (centre) during the launch of a music album in Mumbai in April 2011.

The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, makes substantial progress in filling the gaps in the parent Act so as to benefit all stakeholders.

Assignment of copyrightStatutory licence

During the debate in Parliament, some MPs wondered whether it was right to ensure that royalties were shared between producers and artists because producers bore the full risks of a film failing at the box office, or its music and songs not having a market beyond the film. In response, Kapil Sibal said that it was a business decision that the producer made. If he loses, he loses. It is like building a house. If, ultimately, the contractor loses money, at least, the person who laid the bricks should get his due, he explained.

Import of books

It read as follows: Provided that a copy of a work published in any country outside India with the permission of the author of the work and imported from that country into India shall not be deemed to be an infringing copy.

In his reply to the debate in Parliament, Kapil Sibal did not answer the question raised by P. Rajeev, MP of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), whether the government had succumbed to the pressures of the publishers lobby and dropped this proviso. Instead, he announced that the question of parallel imports had been referred to a committee, which would give its report in August, and the government would then take a view on this.